Artist: Christian Quin Newell
Exhibition title: The Way
Venue: Public Gallery, London, UK
Date: July 12 – August 13, 2024
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Public Gallery, London
Public Gallery is pleased to present The Way, a solo exhibition of new works by London-based artist Christian Quin Newell, whose cosmological paintings open portals to the artist’s internal realm, informed by Buddhist philosophy, mysticism, meditation and the dream. His insatiable curiosity for the world within propelled him into a continuous study of his own psychological biases, leading him to embark on a creative quest through past lives, daydreams and fantastic lands.
In his persistent search for a heightened state of ‘wakefulness’ associated with high spiritual attainment, the artist uses plant medicines, meditation and lucid dream practices in an effort to speak with his subliminal self. Newell describes the dream unfolding his subconscious, as if writing letters to him in his sleep. His spirituality was nurtured by his clairvoyant father and Roman Catholic mother, making him astutely observant to the latent energies quietly present beneath the pulse of the everyday. While Newell’s compositions often depict his protagonists as warriors, in this new series of work, several figures appear as bird-like searchers or explorers, perhaps reflecting the artist’s newfound willingness to greet even his nightmares with compassion and kindness. His artworks attempt to resolve the difficulty made manifest by his subconscious, allowing him to shape and reimagine the world he hopes to inhabit. Each work is therefore an exercise in thinking.
Using fine detail and single haired squirrel paint brushes, Newell composes his studies in high pigment Japanese paint, rendering his dreams with intimate precision and magical depth. Displayed in part across unadorned shelves throughout the gallery, the exhibition brings to mind the reverence and solitude of individual meditation and prayer. While known for using earthy tones and a muted palette, Newell incorporates deep red hues for the first time, demonstrating a willingness to grapple with more difficult levels of his psyche. Slight and subtle changes in chroma and saturation indicate varying emotional states and memories. Clarity is expressed in the intensity of colour, mapped across various compositions often cloaked in a mist or fog. Most notably, Newell is now working within a smaller frame, and his integration of elemental details invites the viewer to engage closely, to integrate their subconscious with his own in order to complete the narrative when it lacks coherence. The ambiguity in Newell’s dreamscapes is perhaps what charges them with potential, providing passage to new levels of enlightenment.
Christian Quin Newell (b. 1991, Latisana, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy) lives and works in London, UK. Recent solo exhibitions include Siena, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (2022); Earth Altar, Public Gallery, London (2021); and Apotheosis, WT Foundation, Kyiv (2021). His work has been exhibited in group exhibitions at Marlborough Gallery, London (2023); Sargent’s Daughters, New York (2023); Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2023); Public Gallery, London (2022); GRIMM Gallery, New York (2022); New York Studio School, New York (2021); ADZ Gallery, Lisbon (2021); CANADA, New York (2021); and The Drawing Center, New York (2020). Newell has participated in residencies including Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy; The Fores Project, London, UK and the WT Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine. His work is part of the permanent collections of the X Museum, Beijing, China and Recharge Foundation, New York, NY, USA.
